Leading Edge

Anna Mueller didn't set out to build one of Australia's best-known wingsuit events. With no coaches anywhere near Cairns in far north Queensland, she reverse-calculated the cost of flying some in and needed eight paying participants to make it work. Around thirty wingsuiters turned up. That was the first Booster Wings, and it's now the camp most Australian and New Zealand wingsuiters know by name.

In this episode of Leading Edge, Anna, a registered nurse, AFF instructor and wingsuiter who became an organiser to improve her own flying, talks through what she underestimated the first time, why fatigue and delegation matter more than logistics, how she keeps novices welcome without holding advanced flyers back, and what it actually takes to start an event in your own scene. The takeaway: if something is missing from your community, sometimes the answer is to build it yourself.

Sam Laming has been coaching wingsuiting since 2012, across drop zones on several continents. Ask him what makes a scene thrive and he barely mentions the flying, he talks about what happens between the jumps, and about the fact that the jump itself is closer to a cherry on top than the main event.

In this episode of Leading Edge, Sam gets into why a coach's mood is quietly contagious and what that means for the people you're taking up; how the intermediate-suit flock has all but disappeared, and what we lost with it; how being mentored by Jarno handed him coaching on a plate, and why he now wants to coach coaches; and the tree strike in a Vampire 3 that scared him badly enough to redirect his entire approach to flying. Less about how to fly, more about who you become while you're learning to.

Patrick Kramer won the wingsuit acro world championship, drove away from the competition and thought: now what? Twenty years in the sport from an engineering office in Switzerland to full-time skydive instructor, wingsuit tunnel coach and world champion and the win itself felt like just another day of doing what he loves. That, he says, is the point.

In this episode of Leading Edge, Patrick talks about the moment his hobby stopped being enough, what he underestimated about turning skydiving into a job, and why "there's no non-competitor in a competitive environment." We get into his radical reset, leaving it all to train Shaolin in China, eight months of being sore every day, coming back to teach at the new wingsuit tunnel in Slovenia, his idea for a three-way acro discipline that doesn't exist yet, and how keeping the next discipline in the back of your mind is what keeps twenty years in the sport from burning you out. The takeaway: romanticise things less, stay a student, and never look back saying you should have.

With over 37,000 skydives behind him, Pete Allum still calls himself a beginner and that's the whole point. For Pete, flying well was never about chasing bigger suits or rushing to the next milestone. It's about mastering the fundamentals and never letting experience get in the way of learning.

In this episode of Leading Edge, Pete makes the case for canopy flight as wingsuiting's most overlooked skill, and explains why becoming a beginner again might be the most valuable thing any pilot can do. We get into first principles, honest fear, the discipline of slowing down, and what it takes to keep flying well across five decades in the sport.

For Devin “Mudcat” Kelly, wingsuiting isn’t about chasing adrenaline, it’s about pursuing a meaningful life.

In this episode of Leading Edge, Devin challenges the stereotype of the reckless daredevil and explores the deeper questions that flight forces us to confront. We discuss mortality, community, risk, personal growth, and how committing to a path that feels true to yourself can shape everything that follows.

For Alexey Galda, performance flying is more than speed, distance, or time, it’s a quest to understand what’s truly possible.

In this episode of Leading Edge, Alexey shares how physics, data, and relentless experimentation have shaped his journey from paraglider pilot to world-class wingsuit competitor and innovator. We explore performance training, wingtip development, in-flight technology, and why breaking complex problems into simple, measurable parts is the key to long-term progress.

For Andy Ford, wingsuiting isn’t just about the flight, it’s about how we see it.

In this episode of Leading Edge, Andy shares lessons from 35 years in the sky and 25 years filming wingsuits around the world. We explore the craft behind aerial storytelling, why smooth flying matters more than aggressive movement, and how patience, awareness, and mastering the fundamentals shape both great pilots and great camera flyers.